Forget boiling eggs and cooking rice separately when making egg biryani. With my instant pot egg biryani recipe, you can cook hardboiled eggs AND biryani rice at the same time in the same pot!
This one-pot egg biryani is so easy to make! You can cook the eggs and the rice together in your instant pot and the two turn out perfectly cooked: bright yellow yolks and separate grains of rice. Not only is this dish easy to make and budget-friendly it’s also absolutely delicious!
Watch How to Make Instant Pot Egg Biryani:
We’re going to bloom whole spices in oil and then sauté onions, ginger, garlic, tomatoes and spices.
Add water and rice to the pot, mix well, then put a trivet into the pot and place eggs on top. See? We’re cooking the rice and eggs together!
Remove the eggs, peel ’em and then sauté them on the stovetop with spices to give them some color (optional). Mix the eggs back into the rice. Simple, beautiful, tasty.
I am all about making one-pot biryanis because they are just so easy to make AND they taste just as good as biryani made the time-consuming way (cooking everything half-way then layering it together, then cooking it again). If you have an electric pressure cooker like the instant pot, then biryani suddenly becomes so much more accessible. It doesn’t have to be a “special occasion dish” because it’s easy enough to make on a weeknight.
Love Biryani?
Biryani is my favorite type of Indian dish because there are so many varieties and so many different ways to make this dish. I have several biryani recipes on my blog. Here are a few to try next:
- Vegetable Biryani
- Shrimp Biryani
- Chicken Biryani
- Pour and Cook Chicken Biryani (the easiest way to make biryani)
- Pour and Cook Lamb Biryani
- Keema Biryani (reader favorite!)
I have to tell you that I like this egg biryani just as much as my other meat-based biryani recipes. It is just as flavorful and delicious, if not more so.
You know how Pizza Fridays are a thing? Well, I’m switching things up at our house and we’re now doing Biryani Fridays. We are observing Lent right now, so now I’ve got three biryani options for Fridays: shrimp biryani, vegetable biryani and this egg biryani. I think I need to share a fish biryani recipe too!
I can’t wait to hear what y’all think of this egg biryani recipe. I’m so proud of it! I hope you love it a lot!
Instant Pot Egg Biryani
Instant Pot Egg Biryani
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice soaked 15 minutes (highly recommend this brand)
- 2 tablespoons oil or ghee
Whole Spices:
- 5 cardamom pods
- 4 whole cloves
- 2 bay leaf
- ½ cinnamon stick
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 onion thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
Ground Spices:
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne adjust to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 cup water
- 6 eggs
- Cilantro leaves chopped
- Mint leaves chopped
- Ghee coated cashews and raisins optional*
Instructions
- Soak the basmati rice in cold water for 15 minutes. Drain, rinse and set aside.
- Press the sauté button and add the oil to the pot. Allow it a minute to heat up, then add the whole spices and stir. Once the cumin seeds brown, add the onions. Stir-fry for 5-7 minutes, or until the onions begin to brown.
- Add the garlic, ginger, ground spices and stir, then add the tomato and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until it softens a bit.
- Add rice and water to the pot, then place a trivet or steamer basket into the pot (on top of the rice). Place the eggs on the trivet or steamer basket.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve, and cook for 10 minutes at high pressure.
- Quick-release pressure.
- Remove the steamer basket and the eggs from the pot. Place the eggs into a bowl of ice-cold water for 5 minutes. Peel the eggs.
- Optional step: at this point, you can fry the eggs in a pan on the stovetop to give the eggs a bit more flavor and color. To do this, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan, add the eggs, and sprinkle a pinch of paprika, cayenne, turmeric, and salt on the eggs.
- Place the peeled eggs back into the cooked rice and mix well. Garnish with cilantro, mint, and ghee-coated cashews and raisins if using.
Video
Notes
- To make the optional ghee-coated cashews and raisins, melt 2 tablespoons of ghee in a pan over low-medium heat on the stovetop. Add ⅓ cup of halved cashews and 2 tablespoons of golden raisins to the pan and stir-fry until the cashews begin to turn golden.
- You can also scramble an egg and add it to the rice for more protein/egg flavor if you’d like! I would do this in a separate pan and then add it to the rice at the end.
- Most Indians grow up knowing to eat around the whole spices once a dish is served, however if you or your guests are not used to this, you can remove them prior to serving.
- I absolutely love this brand of basmati rice – it is very different (in my opinion) than other brands of basmati rice.
Judy says
Tried to make this but got the dreaded “Food Burn” . Not sure if it was because I used a vegetable steamer for the eggs or something else. Any suggestions. Followed the recipe as mentioned above. Carried on cooking the rice and the eggs separately in a pan, it was delicious.
Saranya Senthil says
Could you please tell ratio of rice and water?
Amy Sams says
I love your cookbook and this site. Never has anything not been absolutely delicious. My only wish is that there was some indication on your recipes about how much this will make (portion size and servings) and an automatic note about doubling (Do I double certain things? Leave spices the same?) I now know from experience on the recipes I have tried before but for example I want to make this tonight and am trying to figure out if I need to double for a family of 6? I know from experience in other recipes that with 3 teens the answer is yes but now what doubles and what stays the same?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Amy, thanks for the feedback! I’ll work on updating recipe portion sizes – but truthfully, this one is tough for me because people seem to eat such different portions, so I’m really just guessing. I also haven’t doubled all recipes, so I don’t know if they will work just as well. For this recipe, you can always cook more eggs for extra protein – I do this often and know it works. I’m sure it’d also be fine to double the rice too.
Barbara Greenspon says
I have a question that might be weird. I am going to make this recipe, but: does one wash the eggs before placing in the pot? I have read that one shouldn’t wash eggs before cracking them open, but what if they are going into the pot like this? I assume they are not “clean”??
Thanks for help. We love every single recipe we’ve tried from your site, and we’ve tried lots!!!
Barbara
Beth W says
This is so delicious!! Kids and grandparents both loved this biryani!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Beth, so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how much they loved it 🙂
Kavita Salvi says
I make it every other week, but add peas and corn! My mom loves it so much that she has requested that when I make it, I make a whole pot for her! I make a cucumber raita to go along with it. It’s now a staple in our family! Thanks for this easy recipe!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Kavita, that’s awesome! Happy to hear that you and your mom like it so much 🙂
Vidya says
I used a pot inside the pot for the fear of getting burn and used sona masoori rice in place of basmati. Didn’t come out best. Any tips there?
Kate says
I make your shrimp biryani A LOT. Can’t wait to try this recipe. Can’t believe I didn’t integrate it into our Lent menu, will do so next year!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Kate, I’m sure you’ll love this just as much as the shrimp – it’s very good! Let me know what you think if you give it a try 🙂
Kate says
Finally got around to it today, my husband and toddler loved it! We have chickens and tons of eggs so it’s great to have this egg recipe. I used onion Marsala i had in the freezer instead of the ginger onion and tomato
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Kate, that’s so great to hear! Glad the family loved it 🙂
Moti Mahal Delux OMR says
What a awesome recipes and delicious food dishes description given. Thanks for sharing such innovative ideas of making food.
My Heart Beets says
Thank you 🙂
Courtney Melo says
I made it tonight with the quick cook brown rice. It was amazing! I may or may not have discouraged my kids from eating it so I could have leftovers tomorrow….
My Heart Beets says
Courtney, LOL – I’ve totally done that with my kids too, haha! love that you enjoyed this so much!
LS says
Hi Ashley. I tried this recipe last week..Quick question on “pressure cook”..I own a Ultra instant pot..Every time I turn on pressure cook in my “ultra instant pot” and set time as per your instructions, it first goes to “pre-heating” mode..The pre-heating takes easily 5-10 minutes and then the additional pressure cooking for the desired time ends up the rice being over cooked. I noticed you have a different instant pot. I am not able to turn off the pre-heating in ultra because it seems like that’s required to build the pressure. Can you please advise how we can make your recipes in “ultra instant pot”? Otherwise, the taste was good. Its just that the rice was overcooked.
My Heart Beets says
Hi, that’s correct – the pot takes time to build pressure (preheating) and only counts down once it reaches full pressure. I actually test all of my recipes in my Ultra – it’s my favorite model. The instant pot you see in my videos is an earlier model but one that most people seem to have. If you’re finding the rice to be overcooked, it could be the brand – I would suggest reducing the cook time by 1 minute to see if that helps! If you’re looking to try a new brand, I really love using Aahu Barah basmati rice for my biryani recipes. Let me know if this helps 🙂
Simmi Rani says
nice recipe
Maya says
Hi. I made this today and I also got a burn sign. I made sure that I deglazed the pot before adding the rice. Should I add more water next time?
Thanks
Sumi says
Hello! My husband is allergic to garam masala. Is there a substitute? If I leave it out altogether, would there be a big difference in taste?
My Heart Beets says
Hi Sumi, is there an ingredient in garam masala that he is allergic to? If so, maybe you can make a homemade blend without that ingredient?
Recipe Kitchen says
I made it at home, it is a very tasty and royal dish.
B says
Made this doubled, as written + black peppercorns. I got the burn sign twice, had to add another cup of water and just hoped the rice would cook through. Def recommend at least 1.5x-2x the water in the 6 quart IP?
Besides that, it was great, just spicy enough. I was shocked at how a veg biryani could be so savory. On the website today to print the recipe so my mom can make this, too. Thanks!
My Heart Beets says
Glad you liked it!! I’m surprised the rice didn’t get soggy with that much water… I normally use the same ratio of water to rice since the water doesn’t evaporate in an IP the way that it does on the stovetop. You may want to check the valve/silicone ring – maybe that could be the issue? I hope that helps! And I hope your mom likes it too 🙂
S says
Amazing amazing amazing. Trying the chicken today
My Heart Beets says
So happy to hear that!! Can’t wait to hear what you think of the chicken biryani too!
Chandra says
I sautéed onions and press sauté button but when u put lid on what do u press ? For pressure and time ? How does that work ?
Senthi says
hi Ashley,
this recipe is awesome.tried two times and tastes fantastic..
My Heart Beets says
Senthi, I’m so happy to hear that you liked my egg biryani recipe! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Aswati says
I got the burn sign making this. What do you do when you see the burn sign. Is there a way to salvage it?
Ann says
Hi Ashley, Love your blog and it’s my go-to when looking for IP recipes. I love your combination of North Indian as well as Kerala recipes too as that’s my family too 🙂
Which steamer basket or other IP accessories do you use?
Thanks!
My Heart Beets says
Thanks Ann! I’m so happy to hear that 🙂 You can find IP accessories here (lately I have been using and liking the taller rack on page 2 for eggs and this egg biryani): https://myheartbeets.com/shop/?cat=instant-pot-accessories
Olivia says
Hi there. I followed your recipe but got the burn code. I opened the pot and added another cup of water. I had read some previous comments and made sure there was no burnt spices before shutting the pot but I still got the burn code. When you say 1 cup how much water would that be.
Thanks for your help.
PS. Love your cheesecake recipe 😊😊
Sarah says
Olivia, when I add the cup of water to the pot I make sure to deglaze the pot as well (scrape up all of the bits stuck to the bottom). Once the bottom of the pot feels smooth without any stuck or rough areas I add the rice and proceed. That should help you avoid a burn message in the future!
Somaya says
I made it today! This was so good! will make again
My Heart Beets says
Somaya, I’m so happy to hear that you liked it! Thanks for letting me know how the egg biryani turned out for ya 🙂
Sanjay says
Can’t believe how good this turned out. Thanks!
My Heart Beets says
Sanjay, I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Sam Reddy says
Hi, If I was going to use brown basmati rice instead, do i need to increase the cook time?
I’m relatively new at using the Instant Pot and have made simple recipes like dal & regular rice. Really looking forward to making this Biryani! Your blog is fantastic! So great for instant pot beginners like me!
My Heart Beets says
Hi Sam! I think I already replied to you on IG but I’ll share my reply here just incase others have the same question – I suggest using quick cooking brown basmati rice as that cooks in the same amount of time as white basmati. For this recipe, I think using brown basmati (which calls for a 22 min cook time) will overcook the eggs but if you don’t mind slightly overcooked eggs then it should be okay! please let us know how it goes!
Swapna says
Ashley,
If I have boiled eggs ready can I add them with the spices and rice before adding the water so that the flavors are also on the eggs?
Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Swapna
My Heart Beets says
Hi Swapna, you can but there’s a chance it may overcook the eggs a bit – I think it’ll still turn out fine though! If you’re making it for company though I’d probably just make the rice in the IP and then saute the eggs in some spices then mix them together. Hope that helps!
Maneesha says
What a tasty recipe! I love how we can cook both the rice and eggs in the instant pot SIMULTANEOUSLY! The flavors are on point!
My Heart Beets says
Thanks Maneesha!! I’m so glad you made and like this egg biryani 🙂
Anita says
Unfortunately I got the burn code as soon as it had got to pressure so I had to take everything out cleaned the pot and put everything back in plus another cup of water. The same thing happened again but this time when I tasted both the rice and eggs were cooked. Actually quite tasty but seems to have worked without pressure cooking?
How do you prevent burning? Do you have a non stick pot?
My Heart Beets says
Anita, the burn sign can come on if there are spices burnt at the bottom – I have heard that if the pot comes to pressure then there’s no need to worry about the sign. Hopefully the issue doesn’t come up again – I suggest adding the spices all at once to prevent burning – hopefully that’ll help?
Anne says
This happened to me as well! Do you only add 1 cup of water? I felt that maybe that was the reason my pot kept going to burn mode?
Sincy says
What is a substitute for cayenne.I don’t have it .
My Heart Beets says
You can leave it out – it just won’t be spicy! You can also use Indian red chili powder 🙂
Ron says
Can this be done without a pressure cooker device? I bought all the ingredients only to realize I don’t have that pot…
Irene says
Ashley, I have a question about the eggs – you say they can be scrambled as well? In that case, do you put the eggs (scrambled beforehand, I assume) into Instant Pot in the beginning OR after the rice is cooked, and with this change would the time of cooking and the pressure release change too?…
Also, I can’t wait for your fish biriyani recipe! 🙂 I have already mastered both chicken and shrimp biriyani with great results – thanks for that too! 🙂
My Heart Beets says
Irene, if you want to also add scrambled eggs then I would scramble them separately and add them in at the end 🙂 You don’t have to do this but it’s a nice way to add extra protein if desired – totally up to you! And that’s great to hear – hope to share a fish biryani in the coming weeks!
Irene says
Oh, Ok, thanks Ashley! So the scrambled eggs are not a substitute for the boiled eggs but just an addition – is that what you mean? 🙂
My Heart Beets says
Yes, exactly 🙂
Ashish Jain says
Hello Ashley,
Why tomatoes in this recipe when the other biryani’s don’t have it? Can the tomatoes be added to the vegetable or chicken biryani as well?
Also can yogurt be added to this and the other biryani recipes? The stovetop method usually calls for marinating meat/veggies in yogurt before cooking, so wondering if adding yogurt will enhance the flavor.
Thanks!
My Heart Beets says
Hi Ashish, I just like to switch things up sometimes 🙂 You can add tomatoes to the other recipes if you’d like. I did leave them out of the veggie biryani intentionally because I didn’t want to add additional water-producing veggies to the rice, but you can try adding it in – I’m sure it’ll still be good. Also, I have a biryani with a yogurt marinade coming to the blog soon – just need to make a few tweaks so stay tuned!
Michelle says
Tasty
My Heart Beets says
So glad you liked it!!
Krithika says
I would love it if you could add the number of servings along with the recipe information. I’m a pretty new cook, so I’m not sure about quantities. Knowing the approximate servings will make it easier for me to scale the recipe as needed.
My Heart Beets says
Krithika, I will work on that! I’d say this will feed 3-4 🙂
Mina Naik says
Hello Ashley! Can I triple the recipe in the instant pot, I probably cook the eggs separately.
My Heart Beets says
Hi Mina, I am sure you can triple the recipe (you can keep the cook time the same) and yes, I’d also suggest cooking the eggs separately if you’re making that quantity. Let me know how it goes!
Siva says
Hi,
Is the cooking time 10 minutes for both with and without eggs in instant pot? You have mentioned 6 minutes pressure cooking time for normal basmati rice and other biriyanis in your rest of the recipes. So I just want to know if it’s 6 or 10 minutes for egg biriyani. Thanks
My Heart Beets says
It takes 10 mins to cook the eggs and the rice together. I’ve tried 6 mins for this egg biryani but the eggs end up undercooked (even though when I cook them separately I can cook eggs in 5-6 minutes and can cook rice in 6 minutes as well). I know it seems odd, but just trust me 🙂
Shilpa says
I tried the recipe by tripling the ingredients and keeping the cooking time same. I cooked the eggs separately though. Biriyani came out Awesome 😎.
My Heart Beets says
Shilpa, that’s awesome! So happy to hear that 🙂 Thanks for letting me know how this turned out when you tripled it!
Miss Conduct says
Could you use a 1/2 cup or so of the onion masala in this instead of adding them separately? Also, we’re observing Lent as well.
My Heart Beets says
I haven’t tested this with onion masala to know the correct quantity but 1/2 cup would be my guess! Let me know if you try it that way 🙂
Pri says
Hi Ashley. Egg biryani looks so delicious😋😋😋
I have a question. How does the egg gets boiled? By using steam will the eggs boil perfectly ?
TiA.
My Heart Beets says
Thank you!! And yes, the eggs are cooked in the steam 🙂 Just put a trivet (stand) on top of the rice and place the eggs right on top. They will turn out perfectly! Let me know how it goes!